


Shortcake Surprise

by Team_Two_Cats



Series: Scenes from a Cliffside Café [1]
Category: Suikoden, Suikoden III
Genre: Fluff, Food, Pranks and Practical Jokes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25630828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Two_Cats/pseuds/Team_Two_Cats
Summary: Sebastian just wants to eat his shortcake in peace. Is that so much to ask?
Series: Scenes from a Cliffside Café [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857928
Kudos: 1





	Shortcake Surprise

Sebastian looks down at the shortcake on his plate. Sweat beads on his forehead.

A breeze brushes soft and cool across his face and he blinks, looks up. The water stretches on forever, into the horizon and beyond. Sebastian lets his mind wander, over that distant curve and toward the rumored continents beyond.

He shakes his head. Doubtless they are barbarous, dangerous places. Nowhere a man of refinement should find himself. Not that the castle here is much better at the moment. Full to bursting with every misfit, every stranger and burglar from Zexen to Harmonia. Though, it’s nice that they have a café now. One that serves shortcake.

He examines it again. The delicately crafted cream frosting. The strawberries peaking out from the soft cake. His mouth waters. The fork sits like a beckoning lover on his napkin. A drop of sweat finally swells enough that gravity tugs it sliding down his forehead and around him ample cheek. He dabs it with his handkerchief.

“The cake going to attack you?” Martha asks, sliding into the seat across from him.

Sebastian flinches, wipes his handkerchief across his entire face.

“It’s…” he starts to explain, but stops himself. It’s too embarrassing.

Martha waits, and when he doesn’t go on she shrugs and puts down her own plate. Almond tofu. She immediately starts eating.

Sebastian looks around, catches himself, looks down at his food. Shivers.

“It’s Landis,” Sebastian says.

Martha squints, swallows her bite of tofu.

“What about him?”

Sebastian takes a deep breath, nods towards the café. Martha follows his gaze, and there, crouched on the roof, is the winger. He’s stock still, like a gargoyle more than a man. Unblinking, his eyes are locked on Sebastian’s shortcake, his mouth twisted into a smile wide with anticipation.

“What’s he doing?” Martha asks.

Sebastian keeps looking at him, hoping to catch some hint of movement, but looks away before he sees any.

“I don’t know. Every day this week I’ve come here for a piece of shortcake. Every day he appears on the roof just as I sit down. And he…watches me. I’m afraid that he’s…done something. To the cake.”

Martha raises an eyebrow.

“Pretty sure Mamie would skewer him if she caught him messing with her food.”

Sebastian squirms. She’s right, of course, but what if the winger had managed something without Mamie noticing. Replaced the whole cake with one laced with exploding powder, so that the moment he pressed in with his fork it burst in purple smoke? Hollowed it out and filled it with creeping and slithering insects? Did the cake just shudder?!

Sebastian wipes his forehead again, looks up at Landis, back down at his plate.

“B-but…”

“He’s just messing with you,” she says.

Sebastian clenches his fists. Stands, facing the winger.

“I will not be bullied, you hear me!” he shouts. “I will not be made a prisoner of fear! I will eat this delicious cake and you cannot stop me! Because I deserve nice things! A nice break during a hectic day! You can’t imagine the work I do to keep this place running smoothly! You should be thanking me. Thanking me!”

Sebastian heaves with emotions, and reigns himself in, wipes his face again, tries to regain his composure. This is madness. He’s letting this man get under his skin. But he is a gentleman. He will act like it. And that includes eating his cake in peace. Landis makes no move at all, remains absolutely still. But Sebastian thinks he’s been properly chastened.

He turns back toward his seat, his cake, his reward.

His mouth falls open.

The scene is a mess. Koroku devours the cake in jerking bites. One, Two, Three, and the entire cake is gone. The dog messily licks the plate. Sebastian looks at the dog, then to Martha, whose face is turning red with suppressed amusement. Sebastian wheels back, feeling the heat in his neck, the outrage, the indignity! He points to where Landis was sitting, ready to unleash his fury, but the winger is gone. Just…gone.

And over the gentle breeze of the café, Sebastian hears the frenzied laugh.

“HO HO HO HO HO”

Sebastian drops to his knees, puts his head in his hands, fights back tears.

***

Thomas watches the scene play out, looking glass held to his eye.

“You’re sure this will help Sebastian hold to his diet?”

Juan chuckles to himself, shrugs, rolls back into the grass, eyes closed.

“He hasn’t had any cake in a week, right?”

Thomas hums, looks at the anguish on the butler’s face.

“It doesn’t seem quite…right.”

“Trust me,” Juan says. “You’re doing him a favor. He’d thank you.”

Thomas opens his mouth to argue, then closes it. Maybe Juan is right. Certainly Sebastian was getting some exercise now, chasing Koroku around the café. Maybe it’s all for the best.


End file.
